#housing
Housing differences between Singapore and Hong Kong, here’s what you need to know
- 2022-11-15
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Ming Min AW YONG、Yuhe WANGEdited by: Nick Yang
- 2022-11-15
Hong Kong and Singapore, two small and open Asian economies, have different degrees of housing ownership. Hong Kong has ranked first place in the least affordable housing markets among 92 cities since 2010, according to Demographia International Housing Affordability, yet Singapore ranked 40th on the latest list. More than 113,000 residents left Hong Kong in 2021, marking a 1.6% population decline, the biggest population drop since the record. Ample living space, brighter economic prospects and affordable housing prices were the top three reasons why people left the city, according to the research by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies in 2021. However, the population of Singapore, which has one of the highest homeownership rates in a market economy, grew by 3.4% last year. Here are four aspects you need to know about differences in housing issues between Hong Kong and Singapore. What percentage of the population owns a house in each economy? Hong Kong In Hong Kong, 49.8% of the population owned a house in 2021, meaning only about 3.6 million people owned a house in 2021. Currently, there are 2,657,800 domestic households in Hong Kong. The average household size in the territory is two members per household. Singapore As a country with more than 5.6 million people, Singapore has a higher population density than Hong Kong. Yet, nearly 90% of the population owned property in 2021 in the state, according to the Department of Statistics of Singapore, with three members living in one house on average. How many public and private housing units are there in each country? Hong Kong Hong Kong had a total of 2,960,000 living quarters last year. About 60% of properties are private permanent quarters, which are housing estates developed by private developers. Around 40% of the quarters are public rental housing units …
Policy address 2022: 30,000 public housing units to be provided under new housing policy
- 2022-10-19
- Politics
- The Young Reporter
- By: Rex Cheuk、Mei Ching LEE、Nga Ying LAUEdited by: Kiki Lo、Kelly Pang
- 2022-10-19
Solving the housing problem is the government’s top priority, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said in his first policy address today, announcing a new policy to provide 30,000 light public housing units in five years. “To deal with the problem of inadequate accommodation including subdivided flats, we need breakthroughs in housing supply and solutions to address the long-term problem of housing shortage,” Lee said. The “Light Public Housing” scheme allows Hongkongers who have been waiting for public housing units for three years or more to apply for an earlier allocation of the new units featuring basic facilities with lower rent. Lee said priority will be given to family applicants. The new scheme is expected to increase the city’s total public housing supply by 25% and shorten the waiting time by one and a half years by taking into account the total supply of light and traditional public housing. “The target is to cap the waiting time at the existing level of about six years and shorten it to about four and a half years in four years’ time,” Lee said. He added that the authorities will work closely with different government departments in enhancing the quantity, speed, efficiency and quality to shorten the waiting time for public housing. However, the deputy director of the Society of Community Organisation, Sze Lai-shan, said she would like to see a further reduction in waiting time for public housing. “Although reducing the waiting time to four and a half years should already be a challenging task, we hope the waiting time for public housing can be reduced to three years,” said Sze. Wong Kin-yip, 36, a construction worker living in a subdivided unit, is not satisfied with the introduction of light public housing. “The light public housing …